Pope Francis at the UN, 9/11 memorial, and a Madison Square Garden mass

Adam Brereton

Not a second of breathing room today for the pontiff, who marked his last day in New York with the biggest day yet on what has been an action-packed tour:

Pope Francis demands UN respect rights of environment over the “thirst for power” in a wide-ranging speech to the General Assembly in which he also called for a ban on nuclear weapons.

At an inter-faith service at the 9/11 memorial, the pope hoped that good would come from suffering and condemned “wrongful and senseless loss of innocent lives”. He embraced clerics and members from many faiths, including an Imam and a Rabbi.

Pope Francis visited an East Harlem school, where he spoke to children, parents and teachers, and received gifts made by immigrant workers.

Thousands saw the pope parade through Central Park, with scalpers doing a fine trade in tickets to enter. Many missed the 3.30pm deadline to enter the park and were turned away.

At a mass for 20,000 people at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, the pope prayed that New Yorkers would reach out to those who have “no right” to be in the city – the homeless, elderly and immigrants – so they are no longer merely part of the urban landscape.

Tomorrow the pope will depart for Philadelphia, where he’ll deliver yet another mass at the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul.

I think it is very clear that the pope personally does not like a lot of security around him. This is very clear. But he has accepted and he was aware that coming to the US there was also this aspect he would take into account. That the security is very strong and that he had to pay a price for coming here.

And on the pope’s health:

Yes we can see that he is a little tired maybe, in working eh? And in doing steps [Lombardi here made a little walking motion with his hand] ... he has regular physiotherapy for this, and this can not happen during the visit.

Maybe he feels a little… the weight of these days. It’s not a particular problem. He has still energy for the last two days.

John Boehner speaks during a press conference in the US Capitol on 25 September 2015. Photograph: Molly Riley/AFP/Getty Images

A journalist asks Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi whether the pope knew Speaker John Boehner would be resigning. His reply: no.

To be honest I have not spoken with the pope about this, and in this sense I can not say something very particular. Obviously he is informed about this, and he was impressed how the speaker was emotionally moved yesterday during the meeting with him ... The pope has said to me that he was impressed by the profound participation and emotion of the speaker yesterday.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz adds that all those present had no foreknowledge of Boehner’s resignation, adding “he was very emotional and he spoke about how important it was for him that our holy father came and that it was agreed he would address Congress”.

Pope Francis receives a typical sombrero from Bolivian President Evo Morales during a World Meeting of Popular Movements in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, 9 July 2015. The word “Tahuichi” is from the Tupi-Guarani and means “Big Bird”. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/REUTERS

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi is giving a press briefing. He reminds reporters that when Pope Francis mentioned “lodging, labor and land” during his UN address this morning, he was repeating the slogan of the popular movements. Francis attended their meeting in July this year, when he visited Bolivia. Here’s an excerpt from the speech he gave:

What can I do, as collector of paper, old clothes or used metal, a recycler, about all these problems if I barely make enough money to put food on the table?

What can I do as a craftsman, a street vendor, a trucker, a downtrodden worker, if I don’t even enjoy workers’ rights?

What can I do, a farmwife, a native woman, a fisher who can hardly fight the domination of the big corporations?

What can I do from my little home, my shanty, my hamlet, my settlement, when I daily meet with discrimination and marginalization?

What can be done by those students, those young people, those activists, those missionaries who come to my neighborhood with their hearts full of hopes and dreams, but without any real solution for my problems?

A lot! They can do a lot. You, the lowly, the exploited, the poor and underprivileged, can do, and are doing, a lot.

I would even say that the future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, through your ability to organize and carry out creative alternatives, through your daily efforts to ensure the three “L’s” (labor, lodging, land) and through your proactive participation in the great processes of change on the national, regional and global levels. Don’t lose heart!

Christopher Lamb (@ctrlamb)

Fr Lombardi says Pope's meeting with popular movements in Bolivia gave him list of points to raise at UN #PopeinNYC

It’s evening here in New York, it’s Friday night, and who knows, maybe you’re thinking of going out. Maybe you need some music to get you in the mood for a responsible evening out on the tiles? Why not let Pope Francis lead the way:

In case you missed it, Chris Lehmann wrote earlier today for Comment is Free, on Speaker John Boehner’s resignation. If the speaker was in tears during the pope’s address, it may have been because “over the past five years, Boehner himself has presided over a far less decorous and infinitely more fractious show of ardent faith” – the Tea Party gospel.

The only problem with this particular religion, of course, is that it leaves anyone still clinging to a residual impulse to do the actual work of governing – the people’s business, as the DC leadership class used to quaintly call it

John Boehner left because Republicans' true faith is incompatible with governing | Chris Lehmann

If you’re into papal intrigue, which I am, the traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli has translated an article by Marco Tosatti, an Italian journalist at La Stampa, which alleges Pope Francis (at the time Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio) was part of a so-called mafia club of cardinals and bishops who opposed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The reports come after the publication of a biography of Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was part of the group.

Danneels, according to the authors, had worked for years in preparation for the election of Pope Francis, which happened in 2013. He himself, however, in a video recorded during the presentation of the book, admits that he had taken part in a secret club of cardinals that were in opposition to Joseph Ratzinger.

While laughing he calls it “a Mafia club whose name was St. Gall” … The group wanted a drastic reform of the church, much more modern and up to date, with Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis at the head. And this is just as things turned out.

If you’ve suddenly got a rush of Da Vinci Code-style conspiracy vibes, let New York Times columnist Ross Douthat calm you down:

Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT)

There's buyer's remorse from some. But conservative RCs who think only a small cabal wanted (some of) these shifts are kidding themselves.

Before we wind up the blog for tonight, here’s some new information about Sophie, the 5-year-old girl who handed the pope a letter on immigration. It turns out, she is well-organised too:

For nearly a year [an immigration] group had been preparing the young girl from suburban Los Angeles to make a dash for the popemobile to deliver a message about the plight of immigrant parents living in the country illegally.

“We planned to do this from the moment we learned he was coming to the States,” Juan Jose Gutierrez of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition told the Associated Press.

“We have been working for a while now trying to sensitize the American public that dealing with immigration is not just dealing with the people who came in without proper documents but that we also have ... countless children whose parents are undocumented.”

The pope seems a bit uncomfortable. As he told Catholic News Service, “I know that I am a sinner, so I speak with Jesus and tell him, ‘People are so good to think this of me.’ But the good that is in me, I owe to him. It is a gift from God.”

A few other short observations about language while the communion rite is completed and the hymns are sung (do tune in to the live stream at the top of the blog, the music is sublime).

As it says in the Epistle of James, language matters:

[L]ook at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

And you get the feeling the pope agrees. He’s told his bishops to avoid “harsh language” and reproaches, squabbling over doctrine and the like on this trip. And many traditionalist Catholics have rebuked the pope for not speaking more strongly on this issue or that, or omitting certain words from his homilies and prayers.

But I think you can understand where the pope is coming from with this quote from his namesake, St Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

And now Gregorian chant for communion. Francis is bringing a lot of things into unity during this mass: modern and ancient languages; modern and ancient music (remember Jennifer Hudson provided the pre-show entertainment); the person in their dignity and the city in its anonymity.

There is a lot here to please both traditionally-minded Catholics and those interested in reform. As has been the case in so many other areas of his pontificate, Pope Francis is trying to mend the tears in the “seamless garment” of the church.

And the Lord’s Prayer is also in Latin. Some of the congregation are mumbling a little.

For many Catholics, Latin is a kind of distasteful old relic that only conservative priests like. For the reforming Pope Francis to have used it so extensively during this service will be a talking point.

The Lord’s Prayer. Photograph: Screenshot

For example:

Andrew Walsh (@MonsieurOrgon)

I'm actually quite happy the Pope is saying Mass in latin right now. Unthinkable for a prelate to do so 15 years ago.

Perhaps I spoke too soon: Pope Francis has switched to Latin for the communion rite. Punditry never stays right for long, does it?

This mass will be closely scrutinized and emulated. Is it the new “best practice” mass then? Keeping the first section – the Liturgy of the Word, with its readings and prayers – for the people; then switching to a more clerical, universal expression of the liturgy for the Eucharistic Rite?

Pope's Philadelphia mass to feature 100,000 wafers baked by 13 nuns

Prayers of petition are made in a variety of languages – Gaelic, Mandarin, English, French and Italian – followed by “we pray to the Lord” in English.

What Pope Francis has done with language on this tour is remarkable and I’d like to make a short observation:

One of the fruits of the reforming Second Vatican Council of the 1960s was the revision of the liturgy: rather than clerical Latin, the mass was said in the vernacular language of the people.

But what do you do in a multilingual immigrant society? Here, some priests secretly long for the return of the Latin mass as a sign of unity. But Francis says: Go! Move forward! Just let people offer their languages as a gift.

It’s an inversion of the old cleric-congregation relationship. In the past many Catholics would snooze or say the rosary while the priest spoke in Latin. Now it’s the priests who have to keep up with their parishioners’ languages.

Francis finishes his homily with some simple reflections on God in the city:

He moves us from the fray of competition and self-absorption and opens before us a path of peace. That peace which is born of accepting others; that peace which fills our hearts whenever we look upon those in need as our brothers and sisters.

God is living in our cities. The church is living in our cities. And God and the church who live in our cities want to be leaven in the dough, and relate to everyone, to stand at everyone’s side while they proclaim the wonders of the mighty counsellor … the prince of peace.

The people who walked in the darkness have seen a great light, and we Christians, are witnesses of that light.